Star Trek: Discovery – Life, Itself & Season 5 – TV Review

TL;DR – While you can tell this was never meant to be a season finale, it did still give us a lovely swan song for the series.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The Binary Blackholes.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

All good things come to an end, and while it was never meant to be the final episode, it is the end. In today’s review, we will first look at how the episode works as a finale. Then, we will take a look at Season 5 as a whole. Finally, we will take a moment to look back at the series in its entirety, the bastion of a new wave of Star Trek during the second golden age of Sci-Fi.    

So to set the scene, after spending all season trying to track down the Progenitor tech, the crew of the USS Discovery-A finally made it to the end of the treasure hunt. However, the Breen beat them to it in Lagrange Point. But as the portal to the tech gets flung into the binary black holes, Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Mol (Eve Harlow) get trapped inside. Now, the Discovery is trapped outside with an angry Breen dreadnaught and a new fleet on its way if Saru (Doug Jones) can’t stop them. Now, we will be looking at the Episode, Season, and Series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Lagrange Point – TV Review

TL;DR – A race to the end, but with some real charm.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Escaping twin blackholes.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

Well, it is the penultimate episode of the series, and I am not sure, but I am ready for it to end. Today, we get a perfectly solid part 1 to the end of the season and a part 1 to the end of a series. This is a significant burden to bear, even when you know it is coming, which makes the question today, how did it hold up when it didn’t know what it would end up being?  

So to set the scene, after the final clue was revealed in Labyrinths, it is now a race between the USS Discovery-A and the Breen to get to the location of the Progenitor’s tech. The only problem is that it is not just one Breen faction after the tech, and the Discovery was severely damaged in the last conflict. After Spore jumping in between two black holes, the Discovery is finally able to find the technology, only to see the Breen arrive and snatch it in front of their eyes. So, can the crew find a way to steal it back before the warring factions of the Breen descend on the power of creation itself? Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Erigah – TV Review

TL;DR – A very Star Trek episode all about whether violence or diplomacy is the best way forward.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

USS Locherer catches up with Moll and l'ak.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

We are starting to get into the back half of the season, and you can feel things starting to come ahead. This would be tense in any season, but given this is the final season of Discovery, you can feel that being amplified even more so because the Breen are coming.  


So to set the scene, after finding the next clue in an abandoned weather tower, the next hint was some sort of Betazed text inscription. But when the USS Locherer catch up with Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), the Discovery jumps straight there and beams them to their sick bay. L’ak is in bad shape and needs emergency cryo-therapy at Starfleet HQ before he dies. But the Breen knows where they are and are coming for Starfleet HQ with a dreadnaught, and everyone can feel that we are at a tipping point. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Mirrors – TV Review

TL;DR – There are reflections a plenty this week, and that is not even contained to a mirror universe.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The USS Discovery-A approaches the wormhole.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

This season, we have had an interesting situation with a pair of antagonists who don’t quite fit the bill as bad guys. Sure, they deal with the shady side of things, but I also think we might forget that the Romulan ship in Red Directive was also legitimate salvage. But you could feel that some backstory was ready to be dropped. Well, today’s episode does just that.

So to set the scene, after flashing through time in Face The Strange, we discovered that Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak’s (Elias Toufexis) gambit worked, and they are now ahead of the USS Discovery-A crew. But as luck would have it, they know where they went because there is a wormhole of sorts, but not a nice friendly wormhole like in DS9. No, this one will rip your ship in half without thinking of it, which is what Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) discovered as they went in. That was surprising, but even more so was stumbling across the ISS Enterprise. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Face The Strange – TV Review

TL;DR – A fun romp through the past.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Moll and L'ak

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

As we continue our tour through the greatest hits of Star Trek Discovery, today’s episode takes that view almost literally. All of this is wrapped around one of Star Trek’s most tried and true go-to stories: Time Travel.

So to set the scene, at the end of Jinaal, we found that the next clue in the mission was in Tzenkethi space. However, before they left Trill, Moll (Eve Harlow) smuggled a Krenim time bug onto Adira (Blu del Barrio). On board, the bug runs around the ship until it gets to Engineering, where Stamets (Anthony Rapp) notices it just before it activates. Luckily, Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) were trying to teleport when the bug activated because they were now lost in time and constantly shifting as well. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Jinaal – TV Review

TL;DR – We continue our quest in Trill, where all may not be what it seems, and the game of politics continues.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

the caves of Trill

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

As we fly through the galaxy on this quest, it has been interesting to see just how much this season of Discovery is linking itself back to the past series of Star Trek. It has always felt like it has been pushed there by many people into being more of its own thing. But now, it is embracing its place in the Star Trek world, and I, for one, would love to see it.

So to set the scene, last week Under the Twin Moons, we discovered that the next clue in the treasure hunt was not hidden on Betazed as it first seemed, but was instead on Trill. This was possibly great news for Adira (Blu del Barrio) because Gray (Ian Alexander) has been studying there to be a Guardian. However, as the race heats up, the question is, how will they find the next clue when it has been 800 years since it was hidden? Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Full Season 4 – TV Review

TL;DR – A season that is equal parts uplifting and frustrating  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The crew get lifted into the air by a gravity wave.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

When I was doing an overview of the site, I realised that there were a couple of missing moments that I was not able to tie up due to things happening at the time. Well, given that today is a public holiday, I thought it would be time to correct this, and the first thing we should do is look back at Season Four of Star Trek: Discovery. When I look at this season, what I see are two distinctly different parts, one which might be the best Star Trek has to offer, and the other which was an unfortunate anchor that weighed the entire series back, and today, we will break those two halves down.  

So to set the scene, after saving the galaxy by finding the cause of “The Burn” in Season Three. The USS Discovery-A has settled into being the leading edge of the resurgent Federation. Negotiating with new members and helping distribute dilithium. However, when a mysterious force destroys the entire planet of Kwejian, there is a race to try and work out who is scouring space before another planet is destroyed. Now, we will be looking at the season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – …But To Connect – TV Review

TL;DR – We get an exploration of some fundamental philosophical questions, which is Star Trek at its best.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Star Trek: Discovery - ...But To Connect. Image Credit: Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

At its heart, Star Trek has always been about exploring ideas about politics, philosophy, hell, even religion, economics, sociology, and more. This week we get a show that tackles not one but two core dilemmas about society and in ways that leave no clear-cut answer. 

So to set the scene, at the end of last week’s episode, the crew of the USS Discovery used the electrical impulses left by the Anomaly in Book’s (David Ajala) head to discover that the aliens who sent it sent it from outside the galaxy. This week, Zora (Annabelle Wallis), Stamets (Anthony Rapp), and Adira (Blu del Barrio) are all trying to outline where The Anomaly entered The Milky Way so that they can chart in back to the people that made it. With a way forward, Federation President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) calls a meeting of the Federation and other worlds to discuss how to go ahead from here, just one problem. At the same time, Zora knows the coordinates. However, they are keeping it to themselves. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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TV Review – Star Trek Short Treks: Calypso

TL;DR – When it is working in on the relationship between the two characters it shines, but it does present some interesting implications that I am not so sure about.  

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Short Treks: Calypso. Image Credit CBS Studios.

Review

We continue our dive into the world of the Star Trek Discovery Short Treks by looking at the episode that is to date is the furthest we have been on the official timeline (depending maybe on that one Voyager episode).

So to set the scene, The USS Discovery has been sitting in a nebula for 1000 years when a surprise escape pod comes across it in the dark. When Craft (Aldis Hodge) awakes he find no one on board bar just a voice called Zora (Annabelle Wallis) who explains where he is and he lets her know that the world has dramatically changed.

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Movie Review – Tag

TL;DR – Overall just a really fun silly film, that is made even sillier by the fact that it is based on a true story. It is just a pity that not everything works.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Content Warning – One of the side plots revolved around an extending sequence about a potential miscarriage

Post-Credit Scene – There is something you’ll want to see in the credits.

Tag. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review

You know when I think back to my school years there were people, really good friends, that I spent nearly every day of my life with who I now have no idea where they are and what they are doing with there lives. As we grow older it is natural for people to grow apart, even with the digitally connected world we live in today where you can be Facebook acquaintances with most of the people of your past. Today we are looking at a story about a group of friends that decided to buck this trend in a really odd yet charming way. Now just before we jump in, for the first time I am giving a content warning with regards to this film because one of the plot lines is dealing with a miscarriage that kind of comes out of nowhere in the film and it may be quite traumatising for some people.

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